Though it’s long been rumored otherwise, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac is reporting that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin will not receive a contract extension this year. However, Dulac says the organization remains confident in Tomlin and that an extension next season is more likely to happen.
From Dulac’s article:
“The Steelers do not intend to extend Mike Tomlin’s contract this year, but that doesn’t mean there is any dissatisfaction or pressure being applied to their 17-year head coach, per sources.
In fact, the Steelers plan to adhere to the same time frame they used when they gave Tomlin a three-year extension in (2021) — wait until he has a year remaining on his contract before giving him an extension.”
Throughout the offseason, several beat writers speculated Tomlin was going to be extended this year. Typically, that news comes around this time of year, the beginning of camp. However, his last extension came in April 2021, a three-year deal that signed him through 2024.
According to Dulac, the Steelers intend to extend Tomlin ahead of the 2024 season, falling in line with when they usually extend their head coach. He goes on to write his sources “fully expect” Tomlin to receive another extension.
Hired in 2007 to replace Bill Cowher, Tomlin has a career 163-93-2 record. He’s won the AFC North seven times and appeared in two Super Bowls, hoisting the Lombardi in the 2008 season after beating the Arizona Cardinals. At 51 years old, he’s the second-longest tenured head coach in the NFL only behind Bill Belichick, 20 years his senior, and has offered no indication he’s thinking about stepping down.
Recently, Tomlin downplayed the idea of becoming a broadcaster, a path many former head coaches have taken (such as Cowher) and one current head coaches have flirted with, like the Los Angeles Rams’ Sean McVay. Like Cowher and Chuck Noll, Tomlin will probably coach until he doesn’t want to anymore and go out on his own terms. Since 1969, the franchise has had just those three head coaches.
For Tomlin’s Steelers, 2023 is a big season. Pittsburgh missed the playoffs a year ago and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016, an uncharacteristic drought for the franchise. They’re in a difficult AFC and AFC North this season and will have a tough battle to make it into the playoffs. As has become common, their fate could be determined in the final week of the season. They end this season with a road game against the Baltimore Ravens.
